


Hordak Goes To Mystacor

by lynxladybuglover



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Bow tries his best, Day At The Beach, Developing Friendships, Enemies to Friends, Gen, Hordak-centric (She-Ra), I think?, Mentioned Horde Prime, Minor Adora/Glimmer (She-Ra), Mystacor (She-Ra), Post-Canon, Reconciliation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:55:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25132759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lynxladybuglover/pseuds/lynxladybuglover
Summary: The Best Friend Squad decide to enjoy a spa day at Mystacor before their journey through the stars, so they invite Entrapta. Entrapta invites someone else.
Relationships: Catra & Hordak (She-Ra)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 41





	Hordak Goes To Mystacor

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Lose Yourself At Sea](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25133845) by [maximumdanger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/maximumdanger/pseuds/maximumdanger). 



Entrapta tugged Hordak forward with her hair as she admired the obnoxiously large doorway to the main spa center of Mystacor.

“Wow, look at this architecture! Now that’s not really my specialty, but all of the tech contained within…!” she squealed, shaking her fists in front of her joyfully. “This is a perfect vacation before my trip with Darla!”

Hordak grunted and glanced behind them. The head sorcerer, Castaspella, stood a great distant back, glaring. She pointed two fingers at her eyes and gestured them back and forth between them. Hm. Etherians never ceased to baffle him.

He turned forward in time to catch the burst of glitter that heralded Queen Glimmer and her entourage- She-Ra, the archer, and Catra. Queen Glimmer zeroed in on him and choked, coughing in a very painful sounding manner while the archer and Catra flinched backwards and gaped. She-Ra seemed… less surprised. Entrapta waved hello with a pigtail.

“W- why on Etheria did you bring HIM?!” Glimmer sputtered.

“Oh, you were bringing Adora so I thought it was a bring your partner situation,” Entrapta said, sincere as always. “Anyway, I’m not one for spas, so he can socialize with you instead while I _investigate!”_

Queen Glimmer’s face scrunched in a decidedly strange fashion, but her friend the archer pressed his lips together, eyes still wide, and squeezed her shoulder. _Facial expressions are so nuanced_ , he thought.

She-Ra stepped forward, with a small smile, and looked at Entrapta.

“That was very thoughtful, thank you, Entrapta. I’m sure we…” her voice faltered a little as she glanced over at her unnerved friends, but she rallied quickly. “I’m sure we will have a nice afternoon. Castaspella can show you around, if you’d like?”

“No, that’s alright! Bye, Hordak, have fun!” she said cheerfully, and vaulted away on her pigtails, waving an arm energetically at him as she vanished around a corner.

Hordak sighed, and focused back on the teenagers in front of him. He cleared his throat and held his arms behind his back, and decided to wait until they did something. Perhaps they would allow him to wait here for the remainder of the day- boring, but preferable for all parties involved. Queen Glimmer glared holes into him, and the archer had a deeply distressed grimace on his face. 

The silence stretched.

“Well, I guess we should head to the beach now!” She-Ra clapped her hands, and turned on her heel, tugging the queen along by her cape.

The boy gave him an awkward thumbs up and followed her. Catra looked him up and down silently, tail swishing back and forth, and waved him along behind her. Hordak felt that went well.

* * *

He stepped out of the tree cover and squinted, covering his face with a clawed hand. The ground was a rough mess of burning, tiny rocks, and the sun reflected off it in a blinding manner. Distasteful. Why anyone would prefer it to being indoors eluded him.

Glimmer and ‘Bow’ (as he learned from a hushed but decidedly not secret conversation ahead of him on the way to the beach) plunged straight into the surf. She-Ra (Adora, he had learned similarly) smiled at him as she backed into the water to her waist, and turned to leap at Glimmer with a fierce battle-cry.

“Yeesh, I don’t know how they stand it,” Catra muttered, rubbing her arms next to him. She stabbed a strange, lumpy pole into the sand next to him and threw out a towel. Catra reached over to the pole and-

“What on Etheria is that?!” he snapped, flinching back. The pole expanded and now had a circle of fabric at the top that stretched right into his face. He bared his teeth in frustration and backed up, ears flicking down. 

“Uh,” Catra said, wide-eyed. “The umbrella?”

“Wait, does _Hordak_ not know what umbrellas are?” Bow called from the water incredulously. Glimmer and Adora paused in their fighting to stare, too. He felt himself flush a little and glared harder at the ‘umbrella.’

“It looks ridiculous,” he snapped. “What is its purpose?”

“To give shade,” Catra responded, sounding a little strangled. (Strange.)

Bow waded closer. “How have you never seen an umbrella before? Do they not have them in the Fright Zone?” he asked, turning to Adora.

“Uh, well, it doesn’t usually rain in the Fright Zone…?” Adora said, rubbing the back of her head. “I figured them out eventually!”

The three in the water began squabbling childishly. Hordak huffed and crossed his arms. These princesses always got hung up on the strangest things. (He thought the archer was a princess, at least. It wasn’t very clear.)

“Yeah, I get it.” He turned to look at Catra, who was now sitting on her towel and looking fondly at the group. “It’s weird finding out your mortal enemies are just… some weirdos with magic.”

Hordak wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so he didn’t. Catra peeked an eye up at him and furrowed her brows, but got interrupted.

“So! Uh, H-Hordak, want to come swim with us?” Bow stammered, voice squeaking strangely. 

Hordak made firm eye contact, the appropriate response to direct conversation. “I am partially metal. I would sink.”

The beach was dead silent. Bow sank into the water up to his mouth, bubbles rapidly escaping his mouth, as Queen Glimmer leaned into Adora’s back making weird squeaking noises. Hm. Perhaps he was supposed to project more…?

“That’s… unfortunate?” Bow said, clearly trying to compose himself.

“It is not.”

Bow balked, mouth flattened and eyes widened with clear confusion, and the conversation died. Queen Glimmer waded over to him, giving Hordak a strained smile, and tugged Bow by the shoulder.

“More water for us!” she said, and flipped Bow over her head to slam him into a wave.

“Glimmer!”

Adora tackled Queen Glimmer from behind, but got violently launched backwards by her wings. She resurfaced, spitting water as the queen cackles. Various attacks and counterattacks ensued, but it was clear Glimmer would be the victor. Her superior strength and range ensured it. Clearly a worthy adversary for She-Ra.

“So are you gonna sit down?” Catra said, studying her claws intently. He would think she knew their condition well, considering how much she favored their use in battle, but he supposed it was always good to know your assets. He kneeled down, the sand crunching loudly against his armor. He remained well away from the umbrella. The sunshine was warm.

They sat in silence, watching the others in the surf. Catra had laid down, resting her head on her crossed arms. Hordak wondered what Entrapta was studying at the moment. He knew that she only left unaccompanied by him because she desired her friends to get along with him, but he would much prefer working with Entrapta to… all of this, and he thinks her friends would agree. 

“Do you… remember Horde Prime’s ship?”

He stiffened. His claws dug into the sand. The feeling was much less satisfying than metal.

“You will have to be more specific.”

Catra’s tail swished back and forth distractingly as she watched her friends. “You know, when… when I said your name. And you…”

Ah. The purification ritual. He had forgotten Catra was there for that- that she cared about that, he corrected internally. She had had a rather horrified expression, he recalled now, when he asked Horde Prime to remove his defects.

“Do you have a question, Catra, or do I have to guess?” Hordak said, channeling his frustration into precise enunciation that he knew worked wonders on scared underlings that wouldn’t hurry up and leave him alone.

“I meant,” she snapped, finally looking up at him, “are you okay after- after that… after he…!”

She cut herself off with an angry growl, digging her claws into her arms. Hordak felt unusually conflicted, unsure. He still wasn’t sure what she was asking. He leaned a little closer, studying her expression. Her eyebrows were furrowed, and she was frowning- clearly upset. But when she looked up again and met his eyes, the harsh edges softened into something less angry and more miserable. Ah, that was it.

“I assure you that I would have done that anyway. My imperfections had to be cleansed.” 

Catra’s expression became harsh again. “That’s not what I meant! You- how can you even say that after Adora _destroyed_ him? He didn’t CLEANSE anything!”

“Horde Prime-!” Hordak cut off the irrational response. “Horde Prime… created me and my brothers. He sees all and knows all-” That was what he hadn’t wanted to say, so he changed tack again. “You have seen my defects yourself, Catra. They make me weak.”

“Hordak, that’s what I’m trying to say,” she hissed. “Having ‘defects’ doesn’t mean you should get electrocuted in a slime pool until you forget about them! I wouldn’t wish that s**t on my worst enemy.”

Hordak didn’t much like the way this conversation was going, and decided this is what probably called for humor.

“Do the princesses not have their own… ‘slime pools?’”

Catra stared at him. She sat up and scrubbed her face with her palms, groaning.

“I forgot how infuriating you were to talk to.”

“I did not.”

She incredulously looked up at him. His face was utterly blank as always.

“Look,” she hissed, holding and releasing a few deep breaths. “I went through that h*ll same as you did. I was trying to be… sympathetic. Because I’m better now.”

Hm. There was not a question there, so he supposed she must have more to say. She hugged her knees and looked down into the sand.

“It was terrifying. Worse than anything I’d ever felt. And afterwards, I felt so hollow, and cold, but there was so much buzzing echoing through me because of the- the hivemind. Because of _him._ ” She looked up, eyes wide and sincere. “Why didn’t you just pretend? How could you put yourself through that on purpose?”

Hordak looked away, ruminating. Catra… he remembered her ripping out Entrapta’s chip, and lying to him about Entrapta’s betrayal, but when he looked at her now, he didn't think she intended to betray him again. He didn’t think so before, either, though. He sighed. Catra was much sharper with other people than he was, he conceded grudgingly, and a ruthless general. He respected that enough to continue this conversation.

“Like I said. Horde Prime sees- _saw,”_ he corrected, “and knew all. There was no point in deceiving him, and… I found I did not want to.”

“...You wanted to forget?”

Hordak nodded silently. They both watched the group of three play in the water for a few minutes. Bow dragged Adora underwater by her ankle, and in a flash of light, She-Ra appeared and launched him out of the water. 

The sound of the waves was soothing, he decided. The water was intolerable, but he was fond of the noise. It reminded him of Entrapta tinkering in the back of the room, of working separately but still being able to hear each her nearby. Soothing, he supposed was the word.

“I understand that, I guess. Wanting to forget.” Catra said suddenly. “I hurt Adora so much, even though I cared about her- _because_ I cared about her.”

“That seems counterintuitive,” he remarked.

“Shut up, I can't believe I’m having a heart to heart with YOU about this,” she hissed, turning red.

“...Heart to heart?”

“You know, like… talking. About feelings. One of their gooey princess things.”

“I suppose Entrapta has done that as well,” he said, furrowing his brow. _Your imperfections are beautiful!_ “She is very insightful.”

“...Yeah, I guess she is,” Catra said, blinking surprisedly. “She kept checking all the clones we met for you, you know, but somehow she could tell that they weren’t. Don’t know how she did it.”

Hordak reached for the LUVD crystal in his chest. “…Horde Prime ordered me to kill her. When she was held captive. I… I could not do it. And she told me that she knew I couldn’t. She... believed in me. Perhaps that is how...”

_Rrgh, how unscientific_ , he thought, wincing. Catra looked at him intently, but for what he did not know. She scooted over and punched him in the shoulder.

“Ouch, what the heck is this made of?!” she snapped, shaking out and cradling her knuckles.

“Metal. I believe I did mention this,” he said, and smirked a little to himself. It was rather humorous she _could_ forget, after they worked together for so long.

“Yeah, yeah, stop laughing,” she grumbled, but her ears were raised up, and she did not look very angry. 

She met his eyes, expression calm, so he turned to face her once more.

“You won’t hurt anyone again? Uh, not going to go for Horde Prime round 2?”

He almost laughed, but that would be undignified, so he shook his head. “No. I have made my own life, and I doubt your She-Ra would spare me again.”

“Not mine,” she said, looking a little wistful for a moment. Glimmer and Adora were laughing in the water, an arm snug around each other’s shoulders. Catra raised a fist and left it hovering in the air, smirking at him. “Ex-villain squad?”

“What?”

“It’s a fist bump, it’s friendly,” she said, rolling her eyes and dragging his limp hand up to bump hers. “After our space expedition, I’ll come by, okay? You better not ignore my messages in the mean-time though, cause I’ll know if you respond to Entrapta’s!”

...hm. “I am… rather confused.”

“You are _really_ slow on the uptake- you’re almost as bad as Adora. I want to keep in touch,” she drawled. “I want to be friends, you dummy.”

“Call me that again and I’ll break your wrist,” he grumbled, feeling his face heat and ears flick in embarrassment. 

“Yeah? You can try,” she said, narrowing her eyes and smiling a little competitively. “I’m pretty sure I was the one who won our last bout-”

“Catra!” Adora jogged up the beach, grinning and dripping saltwater, Glimmer perched on her shoulders and Bow following behind. “Hordak! We’re heading in now to try something else. Or, you can stay here and catch up later?”

Catra stood up with a languid stretch. “Is it something without water, or can I go?”

“Adora and I were going to get massages,” Glimmer chimed in, resting her head on top of Adora’s. “Bow was thinking of the sauna.”

Catra groaned overdramatically. Bow nervously shuffled a step forward, glancing up at Hordak and trying to hold eye-contact, and managed, “Y-You’re totally welcome!”

“I would boil alive.”

Bow covered his face with a hand. “Oh man, I keep putting my foot in my mouth...!”

Catra cackled at him, and elbowed Hordak (considerably lighter than her earlier punch). “I don’t know about you, but I could go for a manicure.” She casually examined her claws. “They could use some sharpening.”

“I am quite sure they are in perfect condition.”

“Maybe I want a color!” She stuck her tongue out. He noticed the other three looking at them in pure bewilderment.

“Why would they ‘color’ your claws? It is impractical. It would chip.”

She rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm, tugging him after her. He let her, feeling a little indulgent of this strange teenage warrior. So ruthless before, but now so playful. He supposed she had no reason to be now, without the war.

Queen Glimmer shot him a look, doing the same strange hand signal the sorcerer Castaspella had. They looked startlingly alike. 

Adora let Glimmer off of her shoulders and caught up, laughing a little. She gave a strange look to Catra, raised eyebrows and a wide grin, to which Catra groaned and looked away. Hm.

Bow, finished ruffling his wet hair with Catra’s towel, quickly dashed ahead to catch up and stroll beside them. He glanced over at him with the corner of his eyes. _If he wants to look at me, he should do so without the poor subterfuge,_ he thought grumpily. Catra let go of Hordak’s arm, but only so she could maneuver between the two of them and link elbows. Bow hissed her name quietly, glancing between them.

“This is highly unnecessary.”

“It’s bonding,” she tossed out, and winked at Bow. “So what have you and Entrapta been up to? Bow is pretty good with tech himself-”

* * *

After the manicure, he stared at the little spots of red polish on his claws. They shone in the light as he turned his hand. Hm. Impractical… but strangely pleasing. He looked up at Catra, walking ahead with Queen Glimmer and showing off her own claws. They were gold and white, like She-Ra, and looked a little ridiculous. 

Ahead, he saw Glimmer glance back at him, and he strained his ears to hear what she said next. “You know, I was worried about leaving him here without Entrapta or She-Ra around but… he seems pretty harmless now.”

“Trust me, he’s always been awkward like that,” Catra said, laughing a little. “Basically a shut-in. Etheria will be fine.”

He huffed, but she was not wrong, so he would let it slide. _Entrapta made a good decision- but when does she not?_ he thought fondly.

Ahead of him, he saw Catra pause, ears flicking, and he, too, noticed a strange clunking coming from the ceiling. Bow, Glimmer, and Adora stopped, turning to ask what was wrong and—

Entrapta dropped out of the ceiling vent. The others squawked and jumped away, but he couldn’t help but laugh. She quickly moved over to him on her hair, beaming. 

“Hordak! How was it? Did you get many new data points?” She levered up on her hair to put her hands on one of his shoulders. “My friendship graphs could use extra data to further prove my conclusions!”

“It was entertaining enough,” he said, and then turned to nod at Queen Glimmer. “Thank you for the invitation.”

Glimmer rolled her eyes a little, almost thoughtlessly, but then stood up proper and queenly. “It was a- pleasure.”

“Ooo, and what did you do with your claws?” Entrapta said, gasping and holding one up to her eyes. He fondly sighed, and turned his hand obligingly to show off the color. Catra sidled up beside her, casually crossing her arms and smiling. 

“It’s an experiment,” he responded, looking at Catra. “I’m trying something new.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Kudos or comments if you enjoyed! I sat on this one for a while, but I’m finally satisfied with it. Originally, it was supposed to be more of a Hordak & Best Friend Squad fic but Catra just took over! I think Catra and Hordak are very similar and are some of the only people in the world who can relate to each other re: Horde Prime. Post series, I like to think they become friends, much to everyone else’s bafflement.  
> BIG thanks to my friend maximumdanger (check out their AO3 for some awesome Catradora fic!) who gave me the idea for this and talked it through with me.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Lose Yourself At Sea](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25133845) by [maximumdanger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/maximumdanger/pseuds/maximumdanger)




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